Buckle assembly



tirait-ted btates 3,045,304 BUCKLE ASSEMBLY Stuart T. Shears, Belmont,Mass., assigner to United- Carr Fastener Corporation, Cambridge, Mass.,a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 843,576 3Claims. (Cl. 24-7'7) This invention relates to a garment assembly and inparticular to an adjustable buckle for varying the width of a garmentwaistband.

Various means have been heretofore used by garment manufacturers,particularly in childrens wear to vary the waistband sizes. Buckleswhich will slide freely on a strap have been one answer to the problembut in normal wear or in the laundering of the garment, buckles are aptto slip olf the strap with the resulting problem of replacement and insevere damage to automatic Washers. Furthermore, straps having both endssewed to the material With a freely moveable buckle shifting between thesewed ends result in an unsightly puckering of the cloth.

The object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive buckleassembly adapted to vary a waistband width or the like which is freelyadjustable through the length of the strap and having a keeper to retainthe buckle on the strap.

A further object of this invention is to provide a buckle assembly whichis universally adjustable `for use with any waistband garment. t

Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious, and will, inpart, appear hereinafter.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the buckle assembly;

`FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation with the buckle superimposed over asocket;

FIG. 3 is a enlarged view in section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view in side elevation, partly in section of thebuckle assembly;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the buckle assembled on the strap.

Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated a buckle adapted to bethreaded on a strap A12 having a keeper means \14 to retain the bucklein assembly on a garment 15.

The buckle 10` is of the conventional type Iand formed of metal, or asuitable rigid plastic, having a frame =16 with a center portion 18 andend portions 20 spaced from the center portion by strap receiving slots22. The center portion 18 has a stud member 24 loosely attached to itslower surface 26 by a suitable eyelet 28 upset within the stud so as to-be laterally moveable therein. The base 30 of the stud member is ofgreater area than the center portion 18, with the peripheral edges 31serrated and adapted to extend into the strap receiving slots to permitbiting engagement with a strap inserted therebetween.

Any construction of a keeper means may be provided at the free end ofthe strap so long as it meets the requirement of being of a larger areathan the slot and the form best embodying the features of my inventionas shown in FIG. 5 is a bridging tape 14 comprising a strip of cloth orwebbing or other suitable material of a lesser width than 3,045,304Patented July 24, 1962 ice the strap 1.2 and secured to both ends 32 ofthe strap in such a manner that it lies in parallel relation thereto soas to run along one edge 34 of the strap as illustrated in FIG. 5. Abridging tape positioned in such a manner will not interfere with studentering into cooperative snap fastener engagement with a conventionalsocket member 35 secured to the garment -15 by a prong ring 36.

It will be obvious that the buckle 10 may shift to various positions on-the strap `12 `and when the strap has one end secured to the garment15, a predetermined amount of tuck may be temporarily made in thewaistband of a garment. Further-more, it will also be seen that thebuckle 10 is prevented from being removed over the loose end of thestrap by the bridging tape 14.

Since certain other obvious modifications may be made in this devicewithout departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended thatall matter contained herein be interpreted in an illustrative and not ina limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A buckle assembly including -a slidable buckle threaded on a strapand keeper means for retaining the buckle in assembly, said bucklecomprising a frame having a center portion spaced from end portions bystrap receiving slots, and fastening means extending downwardly fromsaid center portion for cooperate engagement with cooperating fasteningmeans on a garment and the like, said keeper means comprising a bridgingtape secured lat a free end of said strap to prevent the buckle fromaccidental removal from the strap and arranged to pass over the bucklelaterally relative to the fastening means to prevent interference withthe action of engaging the same.

2. As an article of manufacture, a garment assembly comprising a strap,a slidable buckle threaded on said strap and a bridging tape secured atboth ends to said strap, cooperative snap 4fastener means on said buckleand said garment, said bridging tape having a lesser width than saidstrap and disposed adjacent one edge thereof, maintaining continuitybetween said strap ends and arranged to be free of interference with thesnapping of the snap fastener means.

3. A buckle assembly of the class described including a garment and thelike, a strap having one end secured to said garment and the other endbeing free, a fastening buckle slidably attached to said strap, afastening means attached to said garment and adapted to engage acooperating fastening means on said buckle, and buckle engaging means atthe free end of the strap arranged along one edge of said straplaterally of the fastening means of the buckle to keep the buckleattached to the strap while being free of interference when engaging anddisengaging of the fastening means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,389,664 Jackson Sept. 6, 1921 2,800,697 Carpinella July 30, 1957FOREIGN PATENTS 119,493 Germany Apr. 17, 19011 313,305 Great BritainJune 13, 1929

